We’re having a little break from the website to enjoy some travels. We hadn’t planned to go anywhere this summer, but this is our window because, after years of nagging our Stateside friends to visit us, several are coming in the next few months. It’s either take a break now or wait until after October—and traveling then involves-less-than stellar weather in much of the world. So, Mallorca here we come. Back in a week.

Above is a photo of the French nuclear test codenamed Tamouré, a 50 kiloton airdrop at Mururoa Atoll, Pacific Test Area, French Polynesia. It was the first time the French dropped a nuclear device from an airplane. The photo has the same weird ass green color as the Betelgeuse test we showed you a few years ago, but we don’t know why that is. Exposure time? Film stock? French photog getting all artistic trying make the horrifying reality of the shot a bit more cheerful? We don’t know. But the image was made this week in 1966.

This photo shows a long exposure of the early instants of the Trinity nuclear test, which was conducted as part of the Manhattan Project at White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico. It happened today in 1945 and was the first nuclear explosion in human history.

One of the last two functioning examples of revered World War II fighter plane hits the auction block today.

Today in London, Christie’s auction house is selling off one of the only two flyable, original spec Vickers Supermarine Spitfire fighter planes left in the world. One of the most elegant of World War II fighters, the Spitfire played a pivotal role in the Battle of Britain, going up against the German Luftwaffe and its comparable Messerschmitt fighter craft. This particular Spitfire made an emergency landing on a beach at Calais, France in 1940, and was quickly covered by tidal sands. The sands receded in 1980 to expose the aircraft once more, and it went into the Musée d’l’Air at Le Bourget, Paris, before being acquired and restored by the British company Aircraft Restoration Company/Historic Flying Ltd. Christie’s estimates the plane will sell for at least US$2.3 million, and could go for close to US$4 million.

The French editors of Stop were pretty smart. How do we know? Because they chose a twenty-year-old German ingénue named Elke Sommer to star on the cover of their debut issue in 1960. She also appeared in issues 6, 27, 31, and others. Very smart. Stop was published throughout the 1960s, and since this issue is N˚1, we’ll assume it’s unrelated to the Stop magazine, also French, that published during the 1940s. We have five more rare-ish Sommer shots below, and you can see an issue devoted to Brigitte Bardot here.

Operation Greenhouse took place on Enewetak Atoll at the Pacific Proving Grounds, with the aim of exploring methods for expanding the destructive capacity of nuclear weapons while reducing the amount of fissile material needed. There were four tests—above you see an image of the third of those, codenamed George. It occurred today (some sources say yesterday due to the time difference) in 1951.

An idyllic scene on the French Riviera is revealed in these three photos, as Danish actress Mirette Stroyberg and her sister Annette Vadim—who was married to director Roger Vadim and had starred in his film Les liaisons dangereuses, aka Dangerous Liaisons—walk on Pampelonne Beach one afternoon in 1959. Remember—the good life is as near as the next sunny day.

Japanese toy guns of yesteryear conjure the future while reflecting the past.

Yesterday’s Things To Comeposter got us thinking about retro-futurism, so above and below you see a collection of 1950s through 1970s toy guns. Although some are tied into American or British television shows or serials, these particular guns are of Japanese manufacture and come from companies like Nomura, Yoshiya, and Daiya. The one above, for example, is a tin water gun from Crown Co. of Japan, and was designed as a tie-in with the British television series Space Patrol. You may notice the strong art deco influence—that’s common in these items and is a major reason they’re so attractive. The one just below, made of tin and plastic, ties in with the American television show Bronco, and features hero Bronco Layne’s face on the grip. Just below that is a machine gun promoting the Japanese anime hero ŌgonBat, aka Golden Bat. And so forth.

While some of these are water guns, and others use battery power to produce lights and sounds, the ones we like best are friction guns, which means pulling the trigger causes flint-like mechanics in the chassis to produce sparks that make the gun flash and glow. The latter variety, as you might imagine, also produce a grinding/gearing noise to go along with the visual effects. We had one of these just a few years ago and couldn’t put it down. Back then though, we had no idea it was a collectible and so we lost track of it, sadly. It may still be in a relative’s garage Stateside, though, so all hope is not lost. Anyway, in addition to being fun, beautifully designed, and coveted on the collection circuit, these toys also make excellent props for provocative femme fatale photos, like here. That should put a little fuel in your rocket, and we have thirteen guns below that’ll bring out your inner space trooper.

I know I’m supposed to inspire awe and terror. I totally get that. But is it weird that I feel like dancing right now?

England’s tabloid newspaper/website DailyExpress has an interesting story today about the discovery of a Nazi propaganda book Hitler had banned because its photos made him look undignified. The book was called Deutschland Erwache, aka Germany Awaken, and was written in the 1930s by Baldur von Schirach, the former Hitler-Jugend leader who died in Spandau Prison after his conviction at the Nuremburg Trials. His book had been mostly forgotten, but now it’s about to be republished after an intact edition was found amongst the war souvenirs of a deceased British private. The volume was aimed at younger readers, which is why Hitler was portrayed in lighthearted fashion, such as in the above rural photo showing him in shorts working his Uncle Adolf vibe.

As dedicated documenters of Hitler’s horrors, we welcome the republication of Deutschland Erwache. Anything that shows der Führer as human rather than a monster is useful, because it can hopefully remind people that he didn’t arrive here by oozing through an orifice from an alien dimension, but was rather a member of Earth’s human race—and one from just a single lifetime ago, when people had the exact same needs, fears, pressures, desires, lusts, hatreds, and political confusion as they do right now. Which means if we aren't careful and diligent everything that happened during Hitler’s rule could happen again. And we don’t mean in some benighted corner of the planet, but anywhere—even in the well-lit, well-paved, heavily-policed havens some people call home. The top photo is a good reminder that Hitler put his shorts on one leg at a time—just like the rest of us.

We’re driving to a coastal party town we know and stopping at whatever interesting locales we encounter on the way. We’ll be back the tenth or eleventh, if we avoid serious injury or imprisonment. We’ll keep our eyes open, but we probably won’t find any pulp this time. Some places have it and some don’t. Sadly we’ll be traveling the “don’t” zone. Luckily we have stacks of unscanned material in our office, more on the way via the international mails, and thousands of individual posts in Pulp Intl. containing approximately 30,000 pieces of art, so a week of wandering pulpless realms won’t exactly leave us hurting for material. It will, however, bring on website withdrawal. But we can hack it—we think. Meantime, get comfy, have a snack, take a look around. We suggest here, here, here, here, and most appropriately for the time of year, here. Oh, and don’t forget our tabloid index. We’ll see you soon.

After a trial lasting fourteen days, a jury finds eight Chicago White Sox baseball players not guilty of conspiring with a national gambling syndicate to throw the 1920 World Series. Despite the acquittal, newly appointed baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis expels all eight players from major league baseball in an attempt to assure the American public of the purity of the game.

1966—Whitman Massacre in Texas

Charles Joseph Whitman, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, kills 14 people and wounds 32 during a shooting rampage on and around the university's campus. Ten are killed from the 28th floor observation deck of the University's administrative building. Whitman had already murdered his wife and mother in their homes.

1964—Riot Stops Stones Concert

The Rolling Stones play in Belfast, Northern Ireland, but the show is stopped after twelve minutes because of violence in the audience. Some fans are carried away in straitjackets.

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